Freetown Woman of the Year: Tireless advocate for education, people in need

Thursday

Dec 30, 2010 at 12:01 AMDec 30, 2010 at 8:13 AM

FREETOWN — As Lakeville and Freetown wrangled with the question of full regionalization of schools, one woman worked especially hard to keep the issue at the forefront.

STEPHANIE LEOMBRUNO

FREETOWN — As Lakeville and Freetown wrangled with the question of full regionalization of schools, one woman worked especially hard to keep the issue at the forefront.

And when full regionalization finally passed in late November, no parent was more pleased — or relieved — than Nicole DeTerra.

For the past year, DeTerra worked tirelessly to "continuously inform the public about meetings and facts as soon as they were known," said Freetown resident Derek Gracia. "Her efforts contributed in a great way to the passing of regionalization."

Gracia said reaching out to the public to get people involved is nothing new for DeTerra. She also spearheaded a hard-fought attempted Proposition 2½ override, led a petition call for more school spending "and continues the fight for the education of our children."

The last two years, Gracia said, DeTerra has also run a successful fundraiser "to benefit a local family devastated by the sudden loss of a devoted father and husband. ... She is an exemplary citizen."

Because of her advocacy and commitment not only to education but also to helping anyone who needs it, DeTerra is the 2010 Woman of the Year for Freetown. Nominations for the award came from the community and members of the newspaper staff. Recipients were selected by a newsroom committee.

After growing up in Maine and graduating St. Joseph's College with a degree in biology, DeTerra moved to Massachusetts as an employee of Meditech. She worked there for four years before deciding to stay at home with her first child, son Tate, now 10.

"I'm glad I made that decision," said DeTerra, who with husband Jim also has a son Casey, 9, daughter Emma, 7, and son Jacob, 6.

Her advocacy began when she heard Casey's kindergarten teacher was going to be laid off.

"This was at the beginning of teachers losing their jobs," DeTerra said. "She just did so much for him. It was incredible. When I heard she was going to be laid off, I couldn't sleep. I sat at my computer one night at 2:30 in the morning and I wrote a two-page letter €» saying, 'You can't lay her off; she's the best thing at this school.'

"From then on, anytime I got wind of something like that, I needed to do something, say something."

Using a list of parents' e-mails she had obtained previously as a classroom volunteer, "I let people know that I'm going to send you different informational things €» if something comes up with the school or if there's a family that needs help. I wanted to help keep people informed."

Through this practice, she helped organize a large group of Proposition 2Â½ override supporters. "I was able to get a lot of people (to the meeting) €» but people had strong feelings on both sides and it ended up failing."

DeTerra knew that with the override failure, the next step for the towns would be attempting to regionalize. "I also knew that that was going to take the two towns to come together."

For the next year, she did all she could to educate both herself and the public. Her efforts paid off, with Lakeville joining Freetown in a vote to fully regionalize, a move the state approved last week.

Despite the victory, DeTerra has no intention of retreating from the public sphere. "Now that regionalization has passed, that's good, but you still have to go and make sure these people follow through on what they've said they're going to do."

She also has ideas on how to improve the schools, such as seeking more grants and endowments and creating programs to help catch children with potential special needs while they're still young.

"This will help defray the special education costs later," said DeTerra, who speaks from personal experience. Her son Casey is mildly autistic and she has spent years ensuring he gets the help he needs.

Her advice to concerned parents and residents is simple: "You have to stay involved. If you don't stay involved, you can't complain if something doesn't go the way you want it to go."

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